The present invention relates generally to kitchen appliances and, more particularly, to an easy to use, quick and efficient pasta machine. The present invention relates also to such a machine for use as a deep fryer, steamer or crock-pot.
Traditionally, cooking pasta involves boiling of water in a large pot, adding the pasta to the boiling water, and then removing the pasta once cooked. Once removed from the boiling water, the now-cooked pasta quickly becomes cold. Various ways of keeping the pasta hot includes keeping the pasta in the hot water until served or placing the hot pasta in a sealed dish or container.
Although cooking pasta in the aforementioned manner, as well as the results thereof, is acceptable to many individuals, both the process of cooking pasta and the manner of keeping cooked pasta hot are ripe for improvement.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a pasta machine that cooks pasta in a convenient and easy manner.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a pasta machine that keeps cooked pasta hot also in a convenient and easy manner.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a machine that cooks and keeps hot other types of food.
Various other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will become readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art, and the novel features will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
In accordance with the present invention, a pasta machine is provided with a housing having a container for holding a liquid such as water, and the housing includes a heater for heating the liquid preferably to a boiling state. The pasta machine includes an enclosed colander for holding a food product such as pasta, and the colander includes a cover to allow placement of the food product within it. The colander is disposed on the container and is able to rotate through the boiling liquid. The housing of the pasta machine includes a suitable control mechanism that controls rotation of the colander through the boiling liquid to cook the food product within the colander.
As an aspect of the present invention, the pasta machine includes a lid that can be placed on top of the housing to fully contain the colander, and the lid includes an opening to allow steam to escape.
As another aspect of the present invention, the colander includes a flat bottom surface, two side surfaces and a curved top surface, and the curved top surface has a plurality of apertures to allow the water to drain. The colander also has two arms that extend from its side surfaces at the center of the flat bottom surface along a single axis, so that the colander is able rotate about that axis. Thus, the colander is nearly fully submerged within the water during part of its rotation.
As a further aspect of the present invention, the container within the housing is removable.
As an additional aspect of the present invention, the control device within the housing controls rotation of the colander in accordance with the type of food product within the colander.
As a feature of this aspect, a user identifies to the pasta machine the type and amount of food product within the colander, and the pasta machine controls rotation of the colander in accordance with the provided information.
As another feature of the present invention, the colander is moved back to its initial, raised position after the food product is cooked.
As yet another aspect of the present invention, the colander is rotated through the water by rotating first in one direction, and then in the opposite direction, where the colander essentially is rocked back and forth.
As yet a further aspect of the present invention, the pasta machine re-heats the food product within the colander if the food product is not removed from the colander within a predetermined amount of time after the food product is cooked.
As a feature of this aspect, the food product is re-heated by rotating the colander to submerge the food product in heated water once every pre-set number of minutes.
As another feature, the pre-set number of minutes is a function of the type and quantity of the food product in the colander.
In accordance with a method of cooking a food product of the present invention, an enclosed colander is filled with a predetermined amount of food product, the colander is placed on a container holding a liquid, the liquid is heated to a boiling state, and the colander is rotated a predetermined number of times through the boiling liquid until the food product within the colander is cooked.
Various features and aspects of this method correspond to features and aspects of the pasta machine summarized above.